Unsurprisingly, Millennium Entertainment has decided to release Lee Daniels’ “The Paperboy” itself and has scheduled an October 5 opening date. The erotic thriller based on the Pete Dexter novel received a mix of praise and mocking after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and no Stateside distributor had yet stepped up to acquire it.

Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, David Oyelowo, Macy Gray, John Cusack and Nicole Kidman star in the story of two brothers in a steamy Florida town who get involved in the case of a death row inmate and his zealous lover.

“I’m delighted by the extraordinary audience response at Cannes to Lee Daniels’ film and we’re thrilled to release ‘The Paperboy’ this fall,” said Millennium CEO Bill Lee. “Lee’s unique filmmaking voice combined with this high-profile cast makes for a must-see movie.”

Daniels, who wrote the script with Dexter, also produced the project with Avi Lerner, Ed Cathell III, Cassian Elwes and Hilary Shor. The executive producers are Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, John Thompson, Boaz Davidson, Mark Gill and Jan DeBont.